Cogent Communications (NASDAQ:CCOI) Receives Equal Weight Rating from Wells Fargo & Company

Cogent Communications (NASDAQ:CCOI)‘s stock had its “equal weight” rating reaffirmed by stock analysts at Wells Fargo & Company in a report released on Friday,Benzinga reports. They presently have a $27.00 target price on the technology company’s stock, down from their previous target price of $45.00. Wells Fargo & Company‘s target price points to a potential upside of 8.22% from the company’s current price.

A number of other equities analysts have also commented on CCOI. Royal Bank Of Canada reissued a “sector perform” rating and set a $40.00 price target (down from $74.00) on shares of Cogent Communications in a research note on Friday, August 8th. The Goldman Sachs Group assumed coverage on shares of Cogent Communications in a research report on Tuesday, September 2nd. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $40.00 price target on the stock. Citigroup cut shares of Cogent Communications from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and dropped their price objective for the stock from $67.00 to $33.00 in a research note on Tuesday, August 12th. UBS Group restated a “neutral” rating and issued a $27.00 target price (down from $50.00) on shares of Cogent Communications in a report on Friday. Finally, Weiss Ratings reiterated a “sell (d)” rating on shares of Cogent Communications in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Reduce” and an average price target of $33.40.

Cogent Communications Trading Down 34.9%

Shares of Cogent Communications stock opened at $24.95 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 49.06, a quick ratio of 2.31 and a current ratio of 2.31. The company has a fifty day moving average of $39.94 and a 200 day moving average of $44.58. The company has a market capitalization of $1.23 billion, a P/E ratio of -5.50 and a beta of 0.77. Cogent Communications has a fifty-two week low of $24.25 and a fifty-two week high of $86.76.

Cogent Communications (NASDAQ:CCOI) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, November 6th. The technology company reported ($0.87) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($1.15) by $0.28. The company had revenue of $241.95 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $246.13 million. Cogent Communications had a negative return on equity of 117.56% and a negative net margin of 21.57%.The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 5.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company earned ($1.33) EPS. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Cogent Communications will post -4.55 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Cogent Communications announced that its Board of Directors has authorized a stock repurchase program on Thursday, August 7th that allows the company to repurchase $100.00 million in shares. This repurchase authorization allows the technology company to buy up to 4.6% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are often a sign that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Sheryl Lynn Kennedy sold 2,000 shares of Cogent Communications stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $36.35, for a total transaction of $72,700.00. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 10,017 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $364,117.95. This trade represents a 16.64% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, VP Henry W. Kilmer sold 2,400 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, September 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $36.99, for a total value of $88,776.00. Following the sale, the vice president owned 36,200 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,339,038. This represents a 6.22% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. 10.20% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Cogent Communications

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of CCOI. Teacher Retirement System of Texas bought a new stake in shares of Cogent Communications in the 1st quarter valued at about $417,000. Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its position in Cogent Communications by 2.3% during the first quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 210,977 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $12,935,000 after acquiring an additional 4,781 shares during the last quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Cogent Communications by 5.1% in the first quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC now owns 14,972 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $918,000 after acquiring an additional 729 shares in the last quarter. Xponance Inc. boosted its stake in Cogent Communications by 9.7% in the first quarter. Xponance Inc. now owns 3,497 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $214,000 after acquiring an additional 308 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Edgestream Partners L.P. grew its holdings in Cogent Communications by 30.1% in the first quarter. Edgestream Partners L.P. now owns 115,223 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $7,064,000 after purchasing an additional 26,673 shares during the last quarter. 92.45% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Cogent Communications Company Profile

Cogent Communications Holdings, Inc, through its subsidiaries, provides high-speed Internet access, private network, and data center colocation space services in North America, Europe, Oceania, South America, and Africa. The company offers on-net Internet access and private network services to law firms, financial services firms, and advertising and marketing firms, as well as heath care providers, educational institutions and other professional services businesses, other Internet service providers, telephone companies, cable television companies, web hosting companies, media service providers, mobile phone operators, content delivery network companies, and commercial content and application service providers.